LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta would suffer most than any other European country due to rising temperatures. A study published in the medical journal Lancet predicts deadlier consequences for the Maltese population as a result of climate warming. The study predicts changes in mortality rates across 1,300 regions and 854 cities in Europe between now and 2100, as temperatures rise and populations age. It found that with temperatures getting 3°C warmer, Malta would suffer 95 more yearly heat-related deaths per 100,000 people than it currently does – more than any other European country and roughly six times the European average of 15 more heat-related deaths. The study presents scenarios in which temperatures increase in line with Paris climate targets (by 1.5°C and 2°C) and others where temperatures rise in line with current climate policy predictions (by up to as much as 3°C) or where no climate policies are enacted (with temperatures soaring by as much as 4°C). The study estimates that 78 deaths per year in Malta were attributable to heat between 1991 and 2020. But this would triple to 258 deaths yearly with temperatures rising by just 1.5°C and shoot up to over 600 if temperatures get 3°C warmer. A 4°C increase would be even more catastrophic, with the sizzling heat killing over 1,000 people per year in Malta alone. The study also factors the ageing population, longer life expectancy and dropping fertility rates. Meanwhile, southern European countries, including Spain, Italy, Greece and Malta, will bear the brunt of the rising temperatures, with death tolls in these countries expected to be multiple times higher than those in cooler northern states. The study comes as climate scientists predict that 2024 could go down as the hottest year on record, with last month being the second-hottest July ever recorded, just short of temperatures recorded in July 2023. The summer of 2023 will evoke bad memories for many across Europe, including in Malta, where intense heatwaves and lengthy power outages led to 80 excess deaths, many of them linked to heat exhaustion and dehydration, in the 10 days after July 24 alone, according to health superintendent Charmaine Gauci. Meanwhile, wildfires raged across much of southern Europe, destroying villages and rural land across Greece, Croatia and Sicily.
– Photo Ufficio del Turismo di Malta –
(ITALPRESS).
